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The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday launched a new rulemaking to regulate the state’s transition away from natural gas, addressing issues related to stranded assets and unfair cost shifts among ratepayers.

Seeking to do their part to avert climate change, dozens of cities are exploring ways to limit natural gas heating in new homes. One city may also require existing homeowners to make a switch.

I agree that reducing emissions and fighting climate change ought to be top priorities, but taking away consumers’ ability to choose low-cost, clean natural gas doesn’t help us save the planet.

Bill Brand spent two decades fighting to get the waterfront power plant in Redondo Beach torn down and replaced with a public park. Until recently, he was sure he had won.

As Los Angeles weans itself off the last of its coal-generated electricity, the city needs to replace that fuel with a climate-polluting natural gas plant in Utah, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power staff insisted Tuesday.

Local governments seeking to combat climate change have set their sights on a new target: homes and businesses that burn natural gas for things like heating and cooking.

Before Culver City rushes headlong into following the City of Berkeley and eliminating natural gas hookups from residential buildings, it should carefully consider the consequences.

In particular, for a city so concerned with social justice and equity issues, the economic impact of mandated electrification on its most vulnerable community members could be severe.

A number of states, including Hawaii, California and New York, have adopted varying forms of 100% clean energy goals. Now, Democrats in Congress want to take such goals national and across the whole economy

Earlier this year, the City of Berkeley banned natural gas infrastructure — effectively banning natural gas use — in newly-constructed buildings. The ban, which violates both state and federal law, will impact both residential and commercial construction, and will have uniquely negative impacts on restaurants. The CRA is acting to protect the interests of its members.

California’s restaurant industry sued the city of Berkeley on Thursday, arguing in court papers that its ban on natural gas in buildings will harm eateries by increasing costs and preventing them from preparing many sought-after ethnic delicacies.

Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction may end up eroding the region’s reputation for fine and creative dining, according to a California trade association suing the city on behalf of restaurants.

As governments in California increasingly consider limiting new residential natural gas connections, it is important to question whether banning natural gas is an “antidote to climate change”.

Starting in early 2020, plans for most new Santa Rosa homes likely won’t include natural gas stoves, fireplaces, furnaces and water heaters. The Santa Rosa City Council on Tuesday voted 6-0 to require the exclusive use of electric appliances in most new residential construction below four stories.

While Berkeley and San Luis Obispo have gotten a lot of media attention for phasing out natural gas in new home construction, little attention has been paid to the 106 California local governments that have adopted smart resolutions to keep energy choice for affordable reliable heating, cooling, and cooking in our homes. That’s right, 106 local governments are opposed to eliminating natural gas in new construction. In total, they represent nearly 6.9 million people—close to 20 percent of Californians.

In the kitchen of Shanghailander Palace in Arcadia, chef Chun Lei tosses raw shrimp into a wide wok bubbling noisily with oil. BAM! A sizzling thunderclap. Flames shoot out from under the wok. The shrimp turns a lovely pink.

California has some of the highest average residential electric rates in the country, but average monthly bills are among the lowest because homes in the Golden State use less electricity than those in most other states.

Earlier this year, owners of 2012-2019 Tesla Model S and Model X electric cars received an over-the-air software update that was meant to address battery management systems. Now, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to know if Tesla should have recalled the cars for a potential defect.

As a cleaner, more flexible, and more reliable fuel that supports intermittent wind and solar power, Natural gas is a centerpiece of climate and energy strategies put forth, including under President Obama Incredibly, Climate Week in New York City did not have a single “Energy Transition” event that focused on gas. We know that this is a terrible missed opportunity because the surge in U.S. gas use has the country leading the world in CO2 reduction.

In the kitchen of Shanghailander Palace in Arcadia, chef Chun Lei tosses raw shrimp into a wide wok bubbling noisily with oil. BAM! A sizzling thunderclap. Flames shoot out from under the wok. The shrimp turns a lovely pink. Cooking with gas is dramatic, sweaty, and part of the rhythm in the fabled kitchens of San Gabriel Valley’s Chinese restaurants. But some chefs like Lei worry that days of the gas stove could be numbered.

Dozens of cities in liberal-leaning states such as California, Washington, and Massachusetts are studying proposals to ban or limit the use of natural gas in commercial and residential buildings. The movement opens a new front in the fight against climate change that could affect everything from heating systems in skyscrapers to stoves in suburban homes.

El evento, llamado Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo, se llevó a cabo del 25 al 27 de agosto en el Centro de Convenciones de Los Ángeles. Sabor Latino, Avosalc, Mama Cheesecake y La Bufadora Baja Grill fueron algunas de las compañías que participaron en la exposición.

A new push to try and move California away from natural gas onto electric is having an impact on restaurants. The gas burners at Pez Cantina in Downtown LA are igniting just before the lunch rush. Bret Thompson at Pez Cantina in downtown L.A. has been cooking for 22 years, and has been a chef for 15.

Another chunk of Kern County’s economy — natural gas production — has come under threat from California’s efforts to “decarbonize” buildings across the state as a way of helping achieve Sacramento’s greenhouse-gas reduction goals.

Earlier this week, supporters (and some protesting opponents) of natural gas gathered at a conference in Riverside to discuss California’s move to become a zero-emission state, spurred by the 2018 signing of Senate Bill 1477, aimed at making California homes and businesses “near-zero emissions.”

More than a dozen San Gabriel Valley cities are pushing back on an effort that could ban the use of natural gas in residential and commercial buildings.
The California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission have been holding workshops throughout the state to discuss and gather public feedback over the implementation of Senate Bill 1477, which strives to reach near-zero emission homes. The move calls for an electric-only model.

For decades, small-scale biogas systems have collected methane from landfills, sewage plants, and farms. Now, in Europe and the U.S., the growth of this renewable form of natural gas is taking off as businesses capture large amounts of methane from manure, food waste, and other sources.

The Berkeley, California, City Council is getting headlines for its decision last week to ban supposedly gendered language from its city code. “Manhole” and “manpower” are now out in favor of “maintenance hole” and “human effort.” Somewhere George Orwell is crying, but the city’s progressive lords were even more destructive when they also moved to ban natural gas from nearly all new buildings.